


Fuck yeah, this was how to make friends, right?

by novaauster



Series: Atla Modern AU drabbles [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:09:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28511691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novaauster/pseuds/novaauster
Summary: It's lunchtime, and Sokka and Katara are new at Republic City High. Katara sits with a monk. Sokka sits with a mysterious loner.
Relationships: Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Atla Modern AU drabbles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2092587
Comments: 6
Kudos: 71





	Fuck yeah, this was how to make friends, right?

**Author's Note:**

> there was something wrong with the italicization so ~ ~ denotes something italicized, deal with it.

Sokka wasn’t at all mad that Katara abandoned him. It would be weird to sit with your little sister at lunch, anyway. Sokka could make friends on his own. It wasn’t like this school’s population was a good ten times the population of his hometown and he didn’t know jack about Republic City’s culture. 

It was exactly like that.

Well, at least he didn’t have to go through the lunch line. Soggy chicken nuggets, it seemed, were the same around the world. He scanned the cafeteria, though, and nobody except for Katara had the same lunchbox as him. That didn’t really matter, it was high school, nobody judged you for your fucking lunchbox. But it was different.

He scanned the cafeteria again. It smelled, unsurprisingly, of soggy chicken nuggets and pine floor cleaner. He really didn’t want to know what made those stains on the linoleum tiles. Or on the ceiling tiles… _~how~ _did that get there? Was that a dead cockroach in the flickering fluorescent light? Did the roach break it?__

__Sokka may have been too curious for his own good, staring dumbly out at the cafeteria and deducing._ _

__The tables, made of something simultaneously bright blue and resembling wood, were set up in lines, and had stools connected to them, four to a table, so he couldn’t elbow his way into the already-full table Katara had found. Not that he wanted to. Did that kid have a ~ _head tattoo~ _? Neat.___ _

____There were the cheerleaders, and the soccer team. Ooh, the leader of the soccer team was wearing cool red makeup. Maybe Sokka could convince her to teach him how to do eyeliner like that. Or maybe she’d kick his ass. Either would be good, honestly. Both?_ _ _ _

____Oh, and ~ _there~ _were the theatre kids. Sokka wasn’t a theatre kid, but he could fake it. They seemed enthusiastic, and there was a techie in a wheelchair that was… were those wings? Could he fly? Rad.___ _ _ _

______“Leonardo da Vinci,” Sokka mumbled, then hoped nobody heard him._ _ _ _ _ _

______He was Running Out Of Time. The volume in the cafeteria was leveling out, everyone was seated. Except for him._ _ _ _ _ _

______Tui and La, where were the weird kids? This was a big city, there had to be weirdos that Sokka could blend in with._ _ _ _ _ _

______There!_ _ _ _ _ _

______In a corner that, instead of flickering fluorescents, had a fully dead light, sat a weirdo, and Sokka meant that in the most admiring way. He-- they? Sokka couldn’t quite tell the kid’s gender, only that they were pretty as hell. They didn’t have a lunch out, instead they were flipping through a spiral-bound book. Either a journal, which would be attractively mysterious, or a script, which would mean that they belonged with the theatre kids but chose not to join them, which was, again, mysterious. Sokka loved mysteries. He had a magnifying glass somewhere in his backpack, just in case._ _ _ _ _ _

______Well, that was that. Sokka made a beeline for the loner in the shadows._ _ _ _ _ _

______Sokka aimed to sit beside the kid, but fully swerved when they looked up from their mysterious reading material and… glared? Was that a glare? They looked at Sokka, and if that wasn’t a glare it was an excellent resting bitch face. Augmented by the large scar over their eye, and it was extremely inappropriate to think that was hot. But, of course, Sokka was drawn to the soccer captain, so maybe his type was people with red eyelids who could kick his ass. He’d have to keep that information from Katara lest she become the opposite of a matchmaker, for funsies._ _ _ _ _ _

______Sokka sat across from the mysterious loner. Then, he asked “Can I sit here?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Clearly,” the loner replied, and they had a very nice voice. A little rough, though. Sokka hoped they weren’t a smoker, lung cancer would really ruin the whole modern-dark-academia vibe._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Coolio,” Sokka said under his breath, and opened his lunchbox. “Aw, shit.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______The loner raised their singular eyebrow._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Fuckin...” Sokka tapped on the table, looking for the word. “Peanut butter sandwich. Hate them. Want it?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Uh. Sure.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Sokka slid the ziploc-bagged sandwich across the table like a table hockey puck. The loner fumbled it._ _ _ _ _ _

______Now, Sokka wasn’t the most socially adept person, but if he were the loner he might be wondering where Sokka was from, maybe. Or ask his name? He didn’t know, he had sort of interrupted the loner’s lonerfest. Whatever. Sokka could carry a conversation. Brilliantly, he asked “What’s your name?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Zuko.” Zuko took a bite of the sandwich, seemed to remember something, and chewed faster. “Uh. And you?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Zuko was a guy’s name, right? Sokka didn’t know. It might be time for a sexuality crisis-- just kidding, Sweater Weather was already pulled up on Spotify. “I’m Sokka. I’m new, from Alaska.” Sokka gave a winning smile. Zuko studiously avoided eye contact. “Nice to meet you.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“You too,” and, quieter, “I guess?” Zuko finished the sandwich. “Why did you pack yourself something you don’t like for lunch?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oh, my gran-gran packed my lunch today. I overslept.” That was the least cool thing Sokka possibly could have said, what the hell? Sokka was cool! The fact that he was sitting in the dark corner of the cafeteria with a stranger, emphasis on strange, didn’t factor into that at all!_ _ _ _ _ _

______“On your first day here, you overslept,” Zuko repeated. “Your level of fear regarding this place is… low.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Dude, it’s high school. I’m not scared,” Sokka lied._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You should be. You failed the first test.” Zuko returned to reading the script, and Sokka tried to stop himself from reading it upside-down._ _ _ _ _ _

______“What test?” Sokka asked, just to keep himself from reading… whatever that was. It involved a blue spirit. Sokka liked blue. It reminded him of home, and, Tui and La, he wasn’t about to go emo from homesickness in front of Zuko._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Where to sit. You have another chance tomorrow. Pick... the Warriors could find you funny. Them.” Zuko pointed towards the soccer team, the one with the badass makeup-wearing girl. Sokka noticed they were wearing fingerless gloves._ _ _ _ _ _

______~ _Inch arresting.__ _ _ _ _ _

_______“Strap a long fingerless glove on my arm and sign me up to MySpace, because Mum, I’m bi.”~ ____ _ _ _ _ _

________“What was that?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Nothing,” Sokka said, very quickly. “So, why don’t you sit with the Warriors?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Zuko thought about that for a moment, still glued to that script. “I should be with the theatre students, but no light is better than the flickering one.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sokka had expected (hoped for) a Jughead-esque monologue, but that was cool too. “Is that a play?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Zuko’s face lit up. ~ _Score, found the obsession.~ _“Yeah, it’s about a dragon emperor bound to a mortal form by a dark water spirit, he takes the name Noren, and before he’s trying to defeat the spirit and become a dragon again, he falls in love with a human, so he has to decide between his empire and her.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Sokka wasn’t big on plays, or hetero love stories in general, but he would absolutely humor Zuko. “Which one does he choose?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Read it.” Zuko slid their copy across the table. “I have it memorized.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Fuck yeah, this was how to make friends, right? Sokka took the script and would read it before doing any homework that afternoon._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The volume in the cafeteria increased. Sokka twisted around to see a writhing, cultlike ring of chanting kids._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Fight! Fight! Fight!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Oh, shit.” Sokka had expected to see a fight at some point, but on his first day? City public schools, man. “What do we do?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Zuko didn’t answer, probably because they’d put airpods in. Sokka spun around to face them, but they just shrugged. “It’s just Chit Sang and Kuzon.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Sokka returned to looking at the crowd. He didn’t see Katara. He hoped Zuko could read lips, because he said “I’m gonna go find my sister.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“She’s with Aang, right? The bald kid. Nobody messes with a monk, she’ll be fine.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“A monk? Deadass?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________At the look of confusion on Zuko’s face, Sokka took his phone out and went to the notes app, labeling a new note ~ _subtitles~ _, and typed that.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Zuko nodded. “Deadass, a monk.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________~ _how does a monk get to a shitty republic city high school~ _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Ask him.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________~ _oh my god zuko you cant just ask monks why they~ _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“Do it or you’re straight.” Zuko’s brain caught up with their words a little too slow and they went as red as their scar. “Disregard--”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________~ _no Thats a challenge. howd u deduce~ _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________“You have bi and trans pride flags on your lunchbox. That’s no deduction.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________~ _fuck off they arent that obvious~ _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Zuko snatched Sokka’s phone from him and erased the note’s title, replacing it with ~ _gayass~ _.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________Sokka snatched the phone back. ~ _listen here~ _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“I can’t, I have airpods in.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> listen theres a reason I dont write modern aus. now go read They Who Know 9,999 Things if you know whats good for you, I'm putting actual effort into it.


End file.
